Giveaway: Oak Meadow curriculum package (Back to School Week)

Thanks for joining me for this year’s back to school week! I hope this week’s posts encourage you in your school and life planning as the start of the traditional school year grows nearer.

I discovered Oak Meadow through the magic of the blogosphere, and found it to be just what I needed for my kids at the time. The curriculum and the philosophy behind it have become a steady part of our home learning experience since then.

What first drew me to Oak Meadow was the heart behind it–is it possible for a curriculum company to have heart? Yes, it totally is! And I found that Oak Meadow’s connected with much of my own–their gentle approach, their slow introduction to academics, their focus on nature, free play, and stories.

Oak Meadow began over 35 years ago. The company offers complete curriculum packages from PreK through 12th Grade, which you can purchase and use at home with your children.

They also offer an enrollment option in their accredited distance learning school. This allows students to receive full academic credit and transcripts for their work at home–as well as the support of an experienced teacher.

For this giveaway, the generous folks at Oak Meadow sent me their 3rd grade curriculum to review (pictured below). If you’re interested in finding out more about other grade levels, I have previously reviewed the Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade packages as well.

The bulk of the 3rd grade material is presented inthe syllabus. Like the ones I’ve seen before, this book is easy to use and lovely in its layout and design. Printed in full color, it is divided into three trimesters of 12 weeks each. Each trimester includes introductory material for the teacher to read, which explains the skills to be covered during that time period.

Each weekly lesson plan covers assignments in depth. Subjects included in each weekly plan: circle time, language arts, math, social studies, science, art, music, crafts, and health. I have always appreciated the fact that in these early years (K-3) all subjects are here together–no multiple binders or separate curricula to keep track of and juggle.

Plenty of ideas are provided for each week, and it can appear overwhelming initially. Just remember: There’s no law saying you have to do everything in any curriculum–I have written before about the unique way we use Oak Meadow in our homeschool, and I’ve learned over time to make the material my own as we go along. Oak Meadow provides plenty of room to adapt to meet your unique needs, and emphasizes that home teachers should do so.

Here is an overview of the 3rd grade package from an Oak Meadow teacher, citing the projects and studies that many of her students enjoy the most:

Language Arts

form drawing exercises in correlation with learning how to cursive write

Math

creating multiplication designs in conjunction with learning the times tables

reciting rhymes for each of the times tables and engaging in rhythmic activities associated with the times tables (catching and tossing a ball or beanbag, jump roping, etc.)

Social Studies

making a model of a sukkah (Lesson 2)

reading Native American creation stories and making a corn husk doll (Lesson 6) and a dream catcher (Lesson 7)

creating a folk art scrapbook of the student’s family heritage (Lesson 9)

Science

making Chinese, Greek and Roman water clocks (Lesson 3)

composing a story of “The Day There Was No Gravity” (Lesson 4)

observing the clouds and creating a cloud booklet (Lesson 10)

illustrating the four season cycle of a plant or tree (Lesson 19)

growing an avocado seed (Lesson 20)

constructing a terrarium to observe the natural process of the water cycle (Lesson 24)

making a collage of the student’s local natural resources (Lesson 28)

Art

cooking projects (First Trimester)

paper marbling and bookbinding (Second Trimester)

and engaging in carpentry projects (Third Trimester)

One Simple Homeschool reader will receive a curriculum package in the grade of your choice (grades K-8) from Oak Meadow!

How to Win

Everyone has two chances to win. Here’s how:

1. Comment on this post, answering this question: Do you prefer one curriculum that covers all subjects or would you rather choose separate curricula for different subjects? (If you are reading this in an email, you must click over to enter your comment!)

2. ‘Like’ Oak Meadow and Simple Homeschool on Facebook. Then — this is important — you need to come back and leave an additional comment here, telling me you have done so.

Comments

I am a mother of 2 children ages 7 and 10. This is our first time homeschooling and we are also new to Waldorf Education. Wend we started looking for a curriculum appropriate to teach our children we fell in love with the Oak Meadow program. The part that we like the most was that the curriculum gave us the opportunity of holistic education in a creative way being just what we needed. What we like the most about Oak Meadow home-school program is the package option offering us all we needed in 2 packages; the grade package and the art and craft kit, but also the fact that the packages are flexible giving us the opportunity to add other books as we need or to get the next level math for our son been important for us since we have one that need that extra challenge in math. As a new parent to Waldorf Education having an age appropriate curriculum and art & craft package is extremely important because made our life a bit easier giving us as a parent some structure and step by step direction with creative children challenge in math fit us like a glove. We also like the idea that Oak Meadow fallow the state education required regulations and the fact that all the books and materials are easy to fallow as a parent teacher. We really like the option to view some of the lesson online before purchasing a curriculum.

We looked into other Waldorf curriculum but Oak Meadow had all that we need by grades in one page online store. The most important fact for us is that the books and home teacher guides are written in an easy to fallow in a way that we as parent could understand making the teaching process comfortable. Also this guides help you create the rhythm of your home crating harmony in your teaching. We felt that if we as a parent could not fallow a program how can we teach it to our children. Thank you for creating a beautiful program and creating beautiful art and craft kits.

In the past I have chosen curriculum by subject but this year my son is entering 3rd grade and I want to be little more structured with our time. I have been considering OM. I already “like” both pages on FB and really appreciate the articles that OM posts!

I like a curriculum that encompasses all subjects. My daughter is entering 8th grade and the schools she attended previously taught lessons that manner. This will be the first time we are home schooling and I feel that Waldorf Education will fit her due to her ADHD and her artistic nature. We live in a remote area and while there are Waldorf schools here in the state they are far from us. We did visit one of them and I really liked the curriculum and have used some of the methods in my own teaching at Sunday school.

I had already like Oak Meadow, as I have been thinking of enrolling her for a while now, but I did not know about the other fan pan, but I have clicked like there too now!

I prefer one curriculum but take inspiration from many sources. Using one that encompasses all (like OM) keeps me organized. It is a huge challenge to Homeschool as an only parent and keeping it simple is best! I have an 8 year old son and we have experimented with christephurus, kumon, Enki, but find Oak Meadow simplest. My only wish from OM us that they include some drawings to copy. I hope 2 win OM grade 3! Can not afford it right now!

I love all encompassing curriculums in one package. I am challenged as a only parent to homeschool and the simpler the better. Although I take inspiration from many sources I appreciated having the format of everything we need to cover in one package. It is more organized! My one request to OM would be that they would include pictures to copy too! But overall, I love OM and the curriculum they offer and the FB posts they share everyday. Thank you OM. I want to win grade 3 for my 8 year old!.

I love oak meadow! I have used their preschool and kindergarten curriculum and so far I have liked them a lot. I find that I like a complete curriculum and occasionally supplement with workbooks or flash card. I think that they’re curriculum is really loose and allows you a lot of freedom in the presentation of the curriculum itself.

My daughter is not 2 yet, so I have barely started researching this. Still, I think I would probably like to start with one encompassing curriculum and maybe once I’m up and running in this homeschooling choice, move to a separate curricula.

I have always been drawn to Oak Meadow’s philosophies, but have never taken the plunge to buy the curriculum. Now that I am adding a 3rd child into my teaching this year, it would be great to start out gently like I have heard Oak Meadow does. Thank you for this chance to try it!

This is our first year homeschooling, so I am not sure if I will prefer separate curricula for each subject. I would love to have the chance to check out Oak Meadow. Thank you for the wonderful giveaway!

Right now i am piecing together curricula and having a hard time.keeping up. I have looked at oak meadow and would really like to try it out. It is the only packaged product that seems to mesh with our life/learning style!

This year I am a newbie and am piecing together different curriculums for different subjects, but if I found the right all encompassing curriculum I would gladly use it. It seems like it would be less stressful!

In the past we’ve homeschooled with different curriculums for different subjects & made up a lot as we went along, but I’ve been wanting to try Oak Meadow for a while now & would welcome the chance to try an integrated curriculum for 3rd grade. Thank you for a wonderful give-away!

Our two children are still quite young (4 & 2) so we haven’t had a chance to choose a favorite yet, but I seem to like separate curriculum, at least in theory. I have a friend who uses Oak Meadow and loves it! : )

This past year I used a full-subject curriculum; enjoyed having everything planned out, but I did tend to feel guilty about not doing every single assignment. Looking forward to seeing what Oak Meadow is all about.Sandra’s latest post: Lock and load, baby!

I “liked” both of you all on Facebook. I am starting to homeschool this year and really need some help. Kindergarten curriculum would be so incredibly helpful. I would especially prefer curricula that focuses on one subject, integrating learning through an interdisciplinary, project-based approach. Pretty please pick me. Thanks for the opportunity.

I like having a whole curriculum that is complete and put together for me. That way its all there and organized and then I can supplement if need be or if my kids are really interested in a particular thing.

I have been looking to buy a Pre-k package from one company. In a perfect world, I could just buy the curriculum and workbooks for the lower level courses without the books. (Most of the recommended readings for the younger kids are readily available at any public library or used book store.)